Lines of communication

For Eye 81, the ‘Designers and clients’ special issue, Chris Maillard spoke to several clients and design managers about their working relationships with the designers they commission.

One of the short interviews featured in ‘The far side’ was with Randy Golden, the ‘project manager, brand expression’ of IBM, whose ‘Smarter Planet Outcomes’ campaign (via agency Ogilvy & Mather) includes work by Non-Format, Carl DeTorres, Noma Bar and Helmo, all of whose work is shown in the printed article.

DeTorres initially had reservations about working with IBM: ‘I thought that they would over art-direct me and change my work,’ he says, ‘but that was never the case. The art and design needs coming from IBM were refined by Ogilvy into smart and very open briefs … It was very liberating … This kind of thing doesn’t happen in advertising very often.’

Above: ‘Asset array’ for IBM

Above and below: more designs by Carl DeTorres for IBM’s Smarter Planet campaign.

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